Bangladeshi-origin politician Lutfur Rahman wins back London’s Tower Hamlets mayorship

Lutfur Rahman, a Bangladeshi-origin politician who was banned for five years from running for office on corruption charges, has been elected mayor of Tower Hamlets borough in east London.

An election tribunal in the United Kingdom found him to engaging in corrupt and illegal practices in 2015 when he was the mayor of the borough.

Lutfur has always denied any wrongdoing.

At the end of the ban, Lutfur beat Labour’s John Biggs, the incumbent mayor, under the banner of his Aspire party.

Lutfur won 40,804 votes in the second round, while Biggs bagged 33,487. In the first round, they won 39,533 and 27,894, respectively.

Lutfur was originally a Labour leader of Tower Hamlets Council, authorities who look after a predominantly Bangladeshi-origin population, from 2008 to 2010 before running independently for mayor in 2010.

In 2014 under a new party called Tower Hamlets First, he won a re-election, which in 2015 was declared void by the then Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey. The tribunal concluded that Lutfur was guilty of vote-rigging, buying votes and religious intimidation.

He was able to steer clear of criminal prosecution as Scotland Yard and Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to launch one.

In an immediate reaction upon receiving the news of his victory on Friday, Lutfur urged people to “judge him on what [the party] will do for them” and on what they "delivered in the first term”.

Lutfur said: “I want to rebuild Tower Hamlets, I want to invest in our future, and give our people a better future than we had in the last seven years.”

"The people of the borough gave a verdict today. I was in the court of the people and they said in a loud voice, irrespective of race, colour and gender, that they wanted Lutfur Rahman and his team to serve them for the next four years."